Photojournalist Alessandro Gandolfi has been documenting the Phlegraean Fields in southern Italy, where a record 6,740 earthquakes were recorded in 2024, and the seismic swarm has continued in 2025. The volcanic field has been active for more than 80,000 years. It is dotted with craters, lakes and fumaroles as well as roads, factories and the homes of more than 600,000 people
In the square in Monterusciello, a few kilometres from Pozzuoli, 12-year-old Angelo Di Roberto climbed into the civil defence bus with his grandfather. “None of my schoolmates wanted to come, but I wanted to” he said. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
He was right. It was important. The authorities were simulating a large-scale evacuation, the kind they would have to carry out in the event of a volcanic eruption in the seismically active Campi Flegrei or Phlegraean Fields near the southern Italian city of Naples.
During an exercise to simulate an evacuation in the event of a volcanic eruption in the Phlegraean Fields, Angelo Di Roberto, 70, his nephew of the same name, 12, and Alessandro Celardo, 29, all from Monterusciello, arrive at Naples central station, from where in theory they should depart for Milan.
